Is It Possible to Have a Sustainable Wedding?

Ahead of Eccleston Yards inaugural Wedding Weekend, running from 9-10 March 2019, The Resident asks the experts whether it’s possible to have a sustainable wedding

Lead image: SMUK London

Belgravia’s new independent retail and co-working hub, Eccleston Yards, is hosting its inaugural Wedding Weekend from 9-10 March 2019, with retailers hosting a range of essential events and activities for brides and grooms to be.

One of the highlights of the weekend is a discussion about how to have a more sustainable wedding, with the founders of sustainable luxury fashion brand Rêve En Vert and natural beauty studio SMUK London, taking place on Sunday 10 March.

Your wedding is one of the biggest days of your life, and naturally you want it to be memorable. This often means spending big bucks – Londoners are now spending an average of £41,521 on their nuptials, according to research by hitched.co.uk – and sustainability tends to fade to the back of our minds.

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But with concerns over climate change mounting and sustainability the topic on everybody’s lips, the term ‘sustainable wedding’ is something we’ll all be encountering more often.

‘I think general consciousness is growing when it comes to our consumption habits,’ says Cora Hilts, Founder of Rêve En Vert, ‘and as weddings can be so incredibly wasteful it just makes sense that people would start to consider how to make this huge event in their lives a bit more eco-conscious, whilst still being able to enjoy the beauty of the day.’

Weddings can be so incredibly wasteful it just makes sense that people would start to consider how to make this huge event in their lives a bit more eco-conscious

Miabella Ristorp, CEO of SMUK London, adds: ‘SMUK London, the one-stop natural beauty and lifestyle studio in Eccleston Yards, retails a large selection of organic makeup and bodycare from Kjaer Weis – which is leading the movement in high-performing organic and sustainable make-up – and award-winning organic spa brand Amazing Space.

‘Plus, with 15 years in the international beauty scene, SMUK beauticians and hairdressers are professionals at wedding hair and makeup using these products.’

But with hundreds of guests, the dresses, the catering, the flowers and the rest, can it really be done? Cora Hilts shares five tips for hosting a more sustainable wedding below:

Five tips for a more sustainable wedding

The bridesmaid dresses: Let your bridesmaids choose their own dresses or find sustainable options, or preferably both! So many dresses that get worn to weddings once are never worn again, and if your girls can have something they really love and keep, it’s a much more sustainable approach to bridesmaids dresses.

The make-up: Use organic make-up and body care – I used only natural options at my wedding and it all really held up despite my numerous tears. Plus it just feels so much better

The food: Source your wedding food locally and seasonally to cut down on carbon-heavy transportation needs

The flowers: Utilise potted plants and dried flowers rather than only loads of cut flowers that have likely been flown in from all over the world just for the one day and will go to waste afterwards.

The invitations: Send out digital invitations rather than printed ones, so many gorgeous options now and your guests will most definitely not mind!

Join Cora Hilts and SMUK London for a talk on how to conduct the perfect sustainable wedding on Sunday 10 March 2019 from 3-4pm. With Cora having thrown her own wedding last August and SMUK London planning sustainable weddings this year, they will break down all the intricacies of putting on a big that that will be as beautiful as it is conscious (reserve your free ticket here).